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Grand Student Union At USF Comes With Lofty Utility Bill

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Electric, air conditioning and water bills have collectively quadrupled from this time last year, according to university records.

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2008

TAMPA - It may be the campus crown jewel, but the new Marshall Student Center at the University of South Florida is a drag on utility costs.

Electric, air conditioning and water bills have collectively quadrupled from this time last year, according to university records. And if energy costs continue to increase, administrators may seek a larger share of student fees to pay for them.

The new 233,000-square-foot student union opened in late August and is double the size of the old Marshall Center.

Its popularity with students has exceeded expectations, said Jennifer Meningall, the university's vice president of student affairs.

It takes a lot to electrify all that square footage and cool all those students. USF paid $103,506 for electric, air conditioning, water and sewage needs in September, the first full month the student center was open. That's a 388 percent increase from the $21,211 the university paid at the old Marshall Center in September 2007.

Air conditioning costs alone increased nearly eightfold to $62,159.

For a university forced to cut hundreds of jobs in a souring economy, those expenses couldn't have come at a worse time. Administrators cut $50 million in the summer to make up a shortfall of money it received from the state, and they don't expect the cuts to stop there.

The university supports the Marshall Student Center with the activity fees students pay annually. Administrators last month asked trustees to increase those fees by 52 cents a credit hour, which tacks $7 on an average student's tuition bill each semester.

But that money only generates a half-million dollars, and it won't be collected for months. Meanwhile, if energy costs continue to climb, the university may seek a greater share of student fees to support the center, which means other student activities will lose out.

"It's a major emergency if we have to go there," Meningall said.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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